


TV's House of Cards

by MarkWShulkin



Category: House of Cards (US TV), Kevin spacey - Fandom, Netflix - Fandom, The Shadow
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-08
Updated: 2014-08-08
Packaged: 2018-02-12 09:13:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2103966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarkWShulkin/pseuds/MarkWShulkin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In Washington DC politics the pursuit of power overrides usual values in order to survive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	TV's House of Cards

                             HOUSE OF CARDS

by Mark Shulkin MD

This Netflix serial is very popular and almost universally praised by the critics. Those few critics who don’t like it complain that it’s weak on story and plot. I think that’s because some episodes are only setting up scenes for a crisis and resolution in the next episode.

 What’s really different about this series is that there are no heroes to identify with. Kevin Spacey, who plays Francis Underwood, the Democratic whip in Congress, is a power-hungry, immature vengeful, disloyal person as is his wife, Claire,

 Spacey more than most of us is quite comfortable with his shadow. The shadow is that part of us that we hide from others and sometimes hide from ourselves. Spacey presents as powerful and he hides his neediness (his (shadow) although it shows up in Claire leaves him. The writers of the series seem to be telling us value our shadows and to use them skillfully if we want to survive.

 Periodically during each episodes Spacey turns to us, the audience, giving us information about his devious plans, It’s as if to advise us on how to be successful in life. And then we find that other characters, not quite as skilled in their deviousness, get killed off, much to our dismay.. At some level, perhaps less than conscious, we may be valuing his advice and we become addicted to the series.

 The shadow is an instinctual part of our personality but it is also acquired by identification with the traits of significant (often threatening) figures in our past. We need to repress our shadows in response to pressures for parents, teachers and society generally. The “Presentational Self” that results from that repression from consciousness is a survival mechanism that is equal and opposite to the shadow No wonder our surprise and dismay when the less devious are killed off and the most devious survive.

In one of the episodes Claire sees a homeless man on the sidewalk and she gives him a $20 bill. Sometime later she passes the same man and he has used origami to fold the $20 bill into a swan which he forcefully throws back at her. He seems not only to recognize that she is not only judgmental and condescending in her opinions about him but that in giving him her “gift” she is demonstrating her superiority and power rather than her generosity or empathy. In another scene we see Claire teaching herself to make swans out of paper, perhaps sensing that this man has something she doesn’t. He is able to refuse power and money while Claire spends her life seeking it.

 The question comes up  as to why all the characters in the series are so devious. I believe that the answer lies in the political environment typical of Washington DC and of political life generally. If one doesn’t seek power at the expense of other values one cannot increase one’s status and is not likely to get reelected. It’s opposite to the experiences of our youth where “being good” is rewarded.


End file.
